When I woke up,the witch was kneeling in front of me again, holding a book open with one hand as she murmured more strange words over the bands. I wondered how long I'd been out this time. Nothing seemed to have changed though. The bands were definitely still on, and I definitely still felt like I was dying.
"Ahah!" she finally shouted with glee, making me flinch. Then she pursed her lips as she flipped through a few pages.
"I haven't seen this level of dark magic before from a random pack," she said. "What pack did you say you were from?" she asked, seeming to be much more interested in me than she had this entire time.
"It doesn't matter, witch. Can you help her?"
Displeasure flickered across her face, but she took a deep breath and calmed her features. For a second, something shimmered beneath her skin, and I saw a flash of scales and sharp teeth that peeked through her wrinkles. But when I blinked...it was gone. It was hell not knowing whether something was real or if I was just imagining it because of whatever was wrong with me.
The witch silently flipped through a few pages before evidently finding whatever spell she was looking for. "How long did you say she'd been sick for?" she asked Hendrix.
"Six days," he responded.
"She only has hours left then," she responded calmly while the three Alphas all had silent freak-outs around us.
Me, I just felt resigned. If this wasn't dying, then I couldn't imagine what it was really like.
She pulled out a wicked-looking knife that looked like it had been carved from a bone, and Hendrix made a move to take it away from her. "I need this for the spell, you idiot," she hissed.
He nodded, a tic in his cheek showcasing how much he was hating life right now. She turned back towards me and suddenly sliced the inside of her hand, dripping blood all over the band around my wrists. The blood sizzled when it hit the bands, and smoke trailed off of them.
"Are you burning her?" Caspian asked worriedly, but he shut up as soon as River elbowed him.
Sweat began dripping down the witch’s face as she murmured words so softly, I couldn’t make them out. Her hands shook as she held them over the bands, and blood continued to stream from her hand all over my skin.
I watched in fear as her nose began bleeding and blood vessels in her eyes began to pop, but she didn’t stop chanting.
Suddenly, there was a loud boom, and all the men were thrown backward at least twenty feet as if a bomb had gone off, only the witch and I weren’t affected. I tried to move so I could make sure that the guys were alright from being thrown so far, but I found that I was unable to. It was like my entire body had become paralyzed. I couldn’t even twitch my fingers. To add to my alarm, the witch’s chanting began to falter as her whole body began to shake, not unlike what I’d been through multiple times since this had started.
Pressure built into the air, so thick and heavy that I would have screamed if I could open my mouth. The air pushed down around me, harder and harder until I was sure my skull was going to collapse and that would be it.
Just when I thought all hope was lost, it was as if a bubble popped around the witch and me, and all the pressure was suddenly gone. Fresh air was again brushing against my face.
My bands crumbled into dust at that moment, and black smoke filtered from my wrists. For a second, I could see what looked like a nightmarish face looking out from the smoke. It bared razor-sharp teeth, fury written all over its face.
The witch commanded something in that language I didn’t understand, and the smoke dissipated with a wave of her hand until it was completely gone. She then toppled to her back, her breath coming out in gasps as she worked to recover from the spell she’d just done.
I was only faintly aware of her though, because I’d just realized…I was free.
The spell had worked. All the sickness I’d been feeling was gone, and there was a lightness inside of me that I hadn’t felt since—since the bands had first been put on. It was more than just feeling free, though; it was feeling my wolf again like the Moon Goddess had always intended. She was so clear to me now, I could practically feel her fur brushing against me, sensing her eagerness to come out after being trapped for so long.
“Little wolf, are you okay?” Hendrix asked as he ran up to me as I struggled to get up. I could see Caspian and River sitting up as well in the same places they had been thrown. I was pretty sure they’d been knocked out.
I moved my body around, holding up my wrists and staring at them in amazement. I took a deep breath, delighted that my lungs didn’t hurt when I breathed, I no longer felt nauseous, and as I looked into Hendrix’s beautiful face…it didn’t transform into any scary monsters.
I’d been cured.
My wolf barked inside of me, reminding me that she’d been waiting a long time to come out, and she didn’t care how sexy Hendrix looked standing over us with locks of his hair falling in his face. She was ready to be free.
“I feel amazing,” I told him, right before I closed my eyes and let my wolf take over.
Despite the fact that it had been years since I’d been able to shift, it might as well have been as easy as breathing.
One second I was me, and then the next second I was her. I watched through my wolf’s eyes as Hendrix’s gaze widened, shocked to see my wolf standing where I’d just been.
“Hello there, beautiful,” he purred, and despite my wolf’s earlier thoughts about being so excited to run, she was totally thinking about falling on her back and letting Hendrix rub her belly. She was fickle like that, apparently.
“You’re a pretty girl, aren’t you,” said Caspian as he walked towards us. My wolf bounded towards him, jumping up on his chest and almost pushing him over as she licked all over his face, to his surprise and delight. My wolf wasn’t just pretty; in my opinion, she was definitely as beautiful as Hendrix had first said. I’d obviously only seen my wolf once, but it was definitely something I wouldn’t ever forget. She was a snowy white color all over except for the right front paw, which was an ebony color. The contrast was quite striking, and my wolf was very proud of her looks.
He cooed at us like we were small children, which my wolf loved, and he stroked our hair softly.
“Want to run, baby?” he asked, and my wolf yipped in excitement, bouncing off of him and beginning to run in circles excitedly while kicking up sand. Abruptly, our feet slid out from under us and we rolled over to our back. I could hear the guys laughing softly, but my wolf wasn’t embarrassed at all.
Suddenly, there was an enormous chocolate brown wolf beside me, and I knew immediately it was Caspian, his manly scent flooding me. He returned my earlier favor by licking me in the face and then taking off in a run down the beach, barking at me to follow after. When he was shifted, Caspian was whole, all four of his legs were there. He was a sight to behold.
My wolf was about to take off when suddenly I was tackled by a stunning blue-grey wolf that towered over me. This had to be River. The jerkwad. He stared down at me happily, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, and then he licked my wolf’s snout softly, like he was kissing me.
My wolf melted immediately, totally in love, and I had to remind her sternly we weren’t quite sure about River yet. Even if we had slept together.
She reluctantly agreed with me and abruptly licked the underside of River’s snout before wriggling out from under him and setting off after Caspian’s wolf. Looking backward, we could see Hendrix watching over us wistfully. I had never asked if his only form was the monstrous wolf I’d seen in the city. I could see how he would have to save his shifts for certain times if that was the case.
My wolf, being the softy she was, stopped suddenly, almost falling over as she switched directions and tore back to where Hendrix was standing. River barked at us as he ran along beside us, and my wolf kicked up sand in his face…just so he would know who was boss.
I ran until I was right in front of Hendrix and then decided to just go for it, jumping up on his chest like I had with Caspian and licking his face.
Hendrix laughed, and my wolf shivered in delight at the sound. Something inside of me flickered, like starlight was bouncing around my insides.
Before my wolf did anything else, the witch chose that moment to get up off the ground. I probably would have felt guilty that the rest of us had been playing while she recovered from my life-saving spell…but she was a bitch. My opinion on that had not changed.
I was very grateful to the bitch, though.
She looked a mess. Blood was smeared around her nose, and her eyes were still bloodshot. I’m sure my human form looked far worse, though.
She smoothed her hair back and scowled at me. “I’m ready for my payment,” she snapped. My stomach curdled with dread, all the joy leaking out of me as I was reminded of the price.
Hendrix whistled, and I turned to see Caspian bounding towards us, shifting to his human form mid-step when he was almost here. River had shifted as well, and I knew I probably should, but my wolf really didn’t want to quite yet.
I’ll let you out as soon as this is done, I told her before forcing the shift back, much to her disgruntlement.
The air grew somber as we gathered around, watching as she pulled another vial out to collect her payment.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered softly to Caspian and River.
Caspian was suddenly in my face, holding my chin tightly as he forced me to look at him. “This is nothing compared to what I would do for you,” he growled, all the lightheartedness that I was used to with him completely gone. His lips crashed down onto mine in a searing hot, all-consuming kiss that set my body on fire. His tongue pushed into my mouth, tangling gently, yet insistently with my tongue until I was a mindless, horny mess.
He pulled away, and I realized that he’d managed to replace all the guilt I’d been feeling with his special brand of warmth.
It was a funny thing, but I’d never felt like I was really worth anything in my life. Having your dad try and kill you, and then your mate reject you, did that to a girl.
But just maybe…